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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EXIPLOSIVE COMPOUND.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.

227,601, dated May 11, 1880.

Application filed J uric 9, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

5 Be it known that I, ROBERT W. \VARREN, of the city of San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the lvlanufilcture of-Exp1osive Compounds for Blasting and other Purposes; and I hereby declare the following specificationto be a full and clear description of the same. j

My invention relates to the manner of treating and combining liquid and dry explosives so as to form from them adry compound. The explosives I use are nitro-glycerine, nitro-ccl- Iulose, tri-nitro-c'ellulose, and gunpowder,and I combine them in the following manner:

' To any desired quantity oi'propcrl yprepared nitro-glycerine I add nitro-eellulose (either in the form of mono-nitro-cellulose, di-nitro-cellulose, or tri-nitro-eellulose) in sul'licientquantity to produce a coagulated mass, which would be in the proportion of about one part of" such nitrocellulose to ten-parts of nitroglycerine, and allow this mass to stand until the nitrocellulose has becolne entirely dissolved without the use of heat. .1 then take carefully-pulverized tri-nitro-cellulose and mix it with the cougulated mass until all is brought to the consistency of a dry powder. To this dry compound so produced I. add gunpowder, which, in order to obtain the best eil'ect, should be pressed and glazed, when itacts more readily as a detlagrator.

The proportion ol' gunpowder used in the composition will depend on the character of the compound required; but the proportion oi nitioglycerine, intro-cellulose, and tri-nitrocellulose will seldom vary to any great extent, and the manner of mixing these ingrmlients and reducing them to a dry powder before adding the gunpowder must always be carefully observed.

It a lal'g percentage of gunpowder is used its eonumratively slow effect will predominate,

while i" only a small proportion of gunpowder be nt 'oduced into the compound its chief function will be to promote the explosion of the eonumund, and the properties of the other components will predominate.

' hereseventy parts oi'gunpowderare mixed wi th thirty parts of the dry powder a compound suitable for blasting purposes is obtained. The effect of the explosion of a given quantity of this improved eompoundis in all cases greater than the sum of the destructive effects ofthe individual elements separately exploded,

no matter what proportion of. "unp'owd'er is used.

The object of my'invention is to produce an explosive compound containingnitro-glycerine and gunpowderin certain desired proportions, and at the same time, by a proper treatment of the nitro-glycerine before combining it with the gunpowder, prevent the destruction or diminution of the dellagratory properties of the gunpowder by its becoming wet or damp from absorption of the nitro-glycerine.

I am aware that mixtures of nitro-glycerine aml gun-eotton have been made, and that mixtures of nitroglycerinc ".nd gunpowder are in common use; but in the lirst'named of these mixtures the eti'eet of the explosion is not sufficiently modified to render the compound fit for general use as a blasting agent, nor is there any economy in its use over nitro-glycerineor gun-cotton used separately, while in the usual modes of combining gunpowder with nitroglyeerinc the gunpowder is rendered wet or damp by absorbing the nitro-glycerine, and its valuable property of being readily ignited and serving as an instantaneous promoter of the explosion is thereby sacrificed.

What I claim as my'invention is l. The within-descrilunl process of preparing an explosive compound consisting in first reducing niliro-eellulose and nitroglycol-inc to a cougulaled mass,nnd then adding tri nitrocellulose until a dry powder is produced, and iinally combining therewith gunpowder, substantially as shown and described.

2. An 0.. plosivccompound composedol'gunpowder mixed with a powder made of nitrolycerim nitrocellulose, aml tri-nitro-celllnl ose, all combined substantially as described.

ltOlil lltT \V. WARREN.

Witnessesi Y I. l. iiromm, 0. SEDGWICK. 

